Film: Michael Gondry's "The Science of Sleep"

[drEaMtiMe*@#]

*bumpage*

taken from a review i wrote in another forum:

...as i think is this movie the science of sleep.

if you've seen eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and you didn't enjoy it for whatever reasons, i'd say that you probably won't like this either, so it’s best to give it a miss. but if you did, i think you'll love it like i did.

its not the same of course as eternal, i was reading a review about it the other day which said that there's a certain shallowness to it that i guess in a sense is true, largely because the story doesn't tackle any monumental philosophical questions about the human mind or spirit, but it is rather, as gondry professes, a autobiographical work of his life. a life which i think is so amazingly innovatively and creatively displayed, not to mention at all times with an accompanying note of quirky humour, that when i wasn't laughing at the endearing characters i had a huge smile almost permanently plastered on my face.

i also read another article in a magazine about this movie where the reviewer said that "it is deeply confusing in a way that makes mulholland drive seem like meet the parents. by the end of the trip you'll probably be wearing the glazed-over look polite listeners get when you attempt to describe your own dreams to them." which i found to be a partly accurate discription, but mostly highly entertaining due to the mulholland drive reference. it is true, this film does blend dreams and reality to the point where sometimes you don't know which is which. and this is precisely why i realise not all people will appreciate its style, but personally i love the surrealism, and the wonderfully creative dream sets that were made out of cardboard and cellophane. so much so that this is probably my favourite movie release so far for 2007, and i would like to meet michel gondry.

 

[Dtergent]

I haven't seen this yet... but I will, as Gael Garcia Bernal has phoned me in desperation saying that I must

 

[Groovy guru]

Amazing film

One of the best I've seen in a long time.

I live with a sleepwalker and I am also too familiar with paranoid schizophrenia. The film is absolutely spot on in it's depiction of both - eerily so. I can even get into my wife's dreams just like Charlotte Gainsborough does...

Funny, touching and realistic. I think it's an even better film than Eternal Sunshine.

About the only downside was that it might have been a little too Magical Mystery Tour whimsical - but still the best movie of its type since Donnie Darko...

 

[Abserd]

I liked it a lot on my first viewing, which by some streak of luck was in a theater (at the time, I scarcely got to see anything even slightly obscure on the big screen because the theater in the area sucked), but having watched it a few times since, I have to say I don't think it holds up quite as well as his other work, at least not in my eyes. I love Eternal Sunshine, and Human Nature as well, and tend to like them more each time I watch them, but I felt much less invested with the characters watching Science of Sleep again. I think it primarily has to do with an inexplicable dislike for Gael Garcia Bernal that I have. He just doesn't engage me for some reason. I think that the story is interesting and the script is really quite strong, but I think it does pale slightly in comparison to Eternal Sunshine (although what doesn't?) which I think gets deeper every time I see it.

Don't get me wrong, I still like Science of Sleep quite a bit, but I seem to like it a little less each time I watch it, and I've seen it maybe 3 times at this point.

 

[L2R]

i like gondry's visual gags, and they work superbly in eternal sunshine and many music videos but in this and be kind, rewind i'm just really bored.

both films that he wrote and directed are terribly paced and structured, the stories are lame and only serve to move from one visual gag to another with protagonists who are clearly just representations of himself and all they seem to want to do is show off their visual gag abilities.

i'm most of the way through this and am turning it off.

gondry is a shithouse writer. he should stick to working with other artists (writers/musicians).
1.5 stars (voted two)